The most contact many residents have with their local volunteer firefighters is either as a speeding red blur with lights and siren or as a figure in turnout gear directing traffic. This is understandable being how if we show up at someone's house they're usually having a pretty bad day.
That being said we as a volunteer fire service need to make our faces known to our
community residents so that they know whenever there is an emergency call at whatever godforsaken hour that their neighbors are ones providing this important service.
Community outreach supports this objective by giving residents of all ages a reason to interact with their volunteer firefighters, and more importantly see them as a person under all that gear. In addition these outreach events are a great time to promote the need for new volunteer firefighters.
The best kind of community outreach is events where the fire department and the community both get something out of it. What I'm describing is different than fun drive activities such as boot drives because in those cases the only party benefiting is the fire department and the interaction time is short.
Now this doesn't mean a fire department can't conduct community outreach while also making some money. A few examples that fall in line with this are hosting a movie viewing party or a pancake breakfast with Santa Clause or a car show that includes your fire trucks; all with entry prices to cover material costs.
Then there are events where the fire department goes to the community instead. A Santa Clause tour around your town giving out candy canes to kids is a popular type of event.
An event created specifically for community outreach is National Night Out; which gives residents the opportunity to meet and interact with local emergency services like police, fire and EMS. There are more than 16 million communities in the U.S. who participate, according to the National Association of Town Watch.
During this event in my town the fire company I'm on lays out a hose obstacle course that is run by blinded firefighters in full gear to show the community what some of the job entails. But also the course can be run by kids for fun who at the end receive some fire prevention gifts.
Whatever ideas you and your fire department come up with for community outreach remember that "If the community doesn't know you why should they care?"
See you at the big one.
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